


Honey, We Can See Right Through You

by incorrectbatfam



Category: DCU (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23973601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incorrectbatfam/pseuds/incorrectbatfam
Summary: No one believes him when he says he’s not in love with the thing he came back in time to stop.
Relationships: Bart Allen & Cassie Sandsmark, Bart Allen & Dick Grayson, Bart Allen & Garfield Logan, Bart Allen & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Bart Allen & Tim Drake, Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes
Comments: 5
Kudos: 103





	Honey, We Can See Right Through You

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to @bisexualoftheblade for beta-ing
> 
> And this is literally based on I Won't Say I'm In Love from Hercules, but I was also largely inspired by this video by twinkothydrake on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFQyZx8R6Os

Everyone was extra watchful of Impulse ever since he revealed that he was sent back in time to stop the Reach apocalypse and wasn’t the carefree time tourist he originally made himself out to be. He was hiding something else, and the team would be damned if they let him keep more important information from them. He said his target is Blue Beetle, that his job was simply to follow Jaime around and make sure nothing happened, yadda yadda.

Kon didn’t believe it.

The Kryptonian might have been grown in a lab, but even he knew Bart was hiding something.

Because no one looked at their target like  _ that _ .

He pointed it out one day in the kitchen, as Jaime reheated leftovers and Bart stared from afar, sighing like a teenage girl in a chick flick.

“Dude, you’re staring,” he said, “again. That’s like the third time today.”

Bart snapped out of his trance. “‘Course I am. Soon as those enchiladas are done I’m going for the steal.”

“Not what I meant,” he said a little quieter, subtly pointing a thumb to Jaime, who still had his back turned.

“Then what did you mean?” 

Kon resisted the urge to facepalm. “You and him...you know...”

Bart was either genuinely confused or a really good actor. “Know what?”

“You like him. It’s really obvious.”

The microwaved beeped.

“No idea what you’re on about Supes, but that’s my cue,” the speedster said.

Jaime had the leftovers in his hand for a grand total of three and a half seconds before a streak of red and white whizzed by. The older boy just sighed and pulled an identical one out of the fridge.

Kudos to him for being prepared, Kon thought.

***

The most frustrating thing about the team wasn’t Beast Boy shedding on the furniture or the bats’ micromanagement or Superboy constantly leaving the toilet seat up. No, it was the fact that one half of Cassie’s OTP was actively avoiding the other. 

And Cassie refused to stand by and watch her ship sink before it could even sail. 

“Impulse, can I see you in the control room for a sec?” she asked. “We found something among the rubble. Future tech, maybe, but we could use your help in identifying it.”

“Sure,” the boy said, wiping the Chicken Whizzies dust on his jeans.

She led the way, making up a story about a solo mission where she found things that should’ve caught his attention. But the whole time she talked, Bart looked distant. She could see that no gears were turning in his brain. Whatever was happening up there short-circuited as they walked past a room where Blue Beetle and Nightwing were discussing something. Cassie heard Bart’s name somewhere in there but she brushed it off as apocalypse prepping again.

In the control room, she closed the door behind her.

“Uh, where’s the tech?” Bart asked.

“There’s no tech,” she said plainly, unable to suppress the grin on her face. “I need to talk to you about something else.”

“I’m lost,” he said. 

A tiny, excited squeal escaped her lips. “You like Jaime!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, crossing his arms.

“Then why have you been avoiding him, huh?”

He waved her off. “All this Reach stuff’s got me moded. A guy needs a break once in a while.”

She threw an arm around him. “Bart, it’s okay that you like him. I think he liked you back. You should ask him out.”

He quickly checked a watch that he wasn’t wearing. “Check out the time. Jay and Joan want me home for dinner. Beencrashtalkingtoyou, seeyouaround!”

Bart zipped off, phasing through the metal doors, much to her dissatisfaction. 

***

Tim wasn’t a robot.

Bats were infamous for their superior intellect and inferior emotional literacy, but even the most obtuse among them could see something going on with their resident time-traveling speedster. The objective evidence pointed in a single direction.

One: Bart initiated physical contact with Jaime thirty percent more often than with other people—and he was already a touchy guy to begin with.

Two: during debriefings, Bart didn’t look at the screen or team leader. His gaze was on Jaime, and he averted his eyes whenever the latter looked back.

Three: he never gave Kon and Cassie answers to a very simple question.

“Do you like Jaime?”

“Obviously I do, Blue’s my friend,” Bart replied. “People aren’t friends if they don’t like each other.”

“Let me rephrase that,” the third Robin said. “Yes or no: are you romantically interested in Jaime?”

The momentary stifle was all he needed to confirm his suspicions. 

“No,” Bart answered.

The eyebrow twitch said otherwise.

“You’re lying,” Tim said. “Bart, you’ve been acting strange and it’s throwing off everyone’s vibe. Just tell Jaime you like him and we can all get on with our day.”

“I’m not telling him anything because I don’t like him that way,” the speedster insisted. “Why’s everyone suddenly all up in my business? It’s so not crash.”

“You’re my teammate and friend,” Tim said. “It’s my job to make sure everything’s okay, and more importantly that you’re happy. And you’re not happy being ‘just  _ hermanos _ ’ with Jaime.”

“Look, I’m gonna say this one last time, dude: I like him as a friend. Nothing more.”

Denial painted the boy, and it wasn’t a pretty piece.

Tim sighed. “Fine. Whatever. As long as it doesn’t get in the way of your duties or well-being.”

“Don’t worry, Rob,” said Bart. “Everything is crash.”

***

Beast Boy had HAD it with Impulse’s love shenanigans. It was one thing around the tower, but then it interfered with a mission and Gar was  _ pissed _ .

He approached Bart, jabbing a finger in the other boy’s chest.

“Dude, what the hell was that out there?” he demanded. “You nearly blew our cover back there! You know we’re short-staffed and you were supposed to stick with Beta Squad.”

“That’s what I did,” Bart said. 

“Physically, yes,” Gar said, “but you weren’t  _ there _ there. You weren’t paying attention.”

“I was,” the speedster scoffed defensively.

“You were supposed to be lookout but were too focused on Alpha Squad. If Superboy hadn’t heard the guards coming we would’ve been exposed.”

“I was just watching the other team’s backs.”

“No,” Gar said, “You were just watching Blue Beetle.”

“Get off my case,” Bart said, voice rising. “The mission failed ‘cause we didn’t have enough reinforcements to take on the Light’s cronies. It has nothing to do with me or Blue or anything you’re insinuating.” 

“You’re in denial. You’re in love with Blue Beetle and it’s getting in the way of everything.”

“I. Am.  _ Not _ .”

“You are!”

“There’s an entire multiverse out there. Why would I love  _ Blue Beetle _ of all people?”

He knew that Bart didn’t intend for it to sound so heartless. Nonetheless, Jaime’s expression changed from where he was in the doorway, and Gar watched from his vantage point as he backed away, crestfallen. Bart saw none of that.

“Why can’t you grow up and admit it?” Gar asked. 

“Because there’s nothing to admit!”

“You’re fooling nobody, dude. We can see right through you.”

Bart scoffed. “Believe what you want.”

***

“Meeting adjourned. You’re all dismissed.”

The room collectively sighed in relief as Nightwing finished the debriefing. They filtered out, some heading home on the zeta tubes and others to the locker rooms for a much-needed shower. 

“Impulse,” the eldest bat said, “can you stay back a sec? I need to see you.”

A few people gave strange glances at the two, and no doubt at least two of them would eavesdrop. Nightwing figured as much from his team.

“Uh, everything crash?” the speedster asked.

Nightwing gestured to a chair. “Take a seat. There’s something we need to seriously discuss.”

Impulse hesitated before pulling up a chair. The older one also pulled up a chair and flipped it backward before sitting on it. They were at eye level. The only thing between them was the table. He peeled off his domino. He didn’t want to talk as Nightwing and Impulse, team leader and subordinate. It just wouldn’t work that way.

“Robin’s gonna give you an earful next time you see him anyway, so I’m gonna skip the lecture about focusing on missions,” he began.

Bart shifted uncomfortably, taking off his goggles but not meeting Dick’s eyes.

The latter continued, “I’m not sure how it is in your future, but here it’s okay to have feelings for your teammates. I mean, just look at Tim and Cassie.”

“I don’t have feelings for everyone,” Bart said, though it sounded like he didn’t even believe himself.

“Bart,” he coaxed gently, the way he would with his younger siblings. 

The speedster sighed. “I’m in love with Blue Beetle.”

“And you’ve been denying it because you’re afraid he doesn’t feel the same,” Dick guessed.

“Yes, that,” Bart said, “But...there’s also something else.”

Dick raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Bart looked down at the table, tracing patterns in the metal with his fingertip. “Where I came from, romance was seen as a waste of time. The Reach only allowed relationships for the sake of reproduction, and they were broken up after the children were born. It was their way of making sure they had enough slaves at any given time.”

Dick opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. How on Earth could he possibly respond to that? Especially when the boy telling the story said it with a straight face. Would sympathy even be appropriate?

Bart kept going. “Homosexuality was especially frowned upon. Again, it was all about reproducing. If anyone was even suspected to be in an unauthorized relationship, they were…”

Dick placed a gentle hand on Bart’s shoulder. “You’re not in that world anymore. Our Blue Beetle would never do anything like that. We’re gonna stop the Reach and that future won’t exist and you won’t have to be afraid to love him or whoever else you want.”

“You’re not gonna say anything, are you?” Bart asked sheepishly. “About how I…love him?” 

Dick laughed and shook his head. “No, I won’t. That’s not my secret to tell.”


End file.
